Milk tube



Feb. 15, 1944. w A SCOTT K 341,953

MILK TUBE Filed May 26, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Arm/iwf Y6.

eh 15, 1944. l w. A. scoT'r 2,1953

MILK TUBE Filed May 26, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mfg/WM Patented Feb. 1s, 1944 FFICE MILK TUBE Walter A. Scott, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., assigner to The De Laval Separator Company, New York,

N. Y., a corporation o! New Jersey Application May 26, 1942, Serial No. 444,521

9 Claims. (Ci. itl-84) My invention is an improvement in tubes, usually made of rubber, for conducting milk from the lower ends of a set of milking machine teat cups to a single multi-inlet cluster which is, in turn, connected by another tube with the milk receiving pail.

The main object of my invention is to increase the life of the milk Vtubes connecting the teat cups with the cluster by preventing injury to and puncturing of the milk tube by stresses and blows to which, in normal use, it is commonly subjected.

This object is eiiected by the construction herein described and illustrated in the drawings, in which- Fig, 1 is a cross-section of one of my improved milk tubes in its free, unstretched condition, applied to the lower end of a teat cup.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section of a nipple with one end of the milk tube applied thereto.

Fig. 3 is a cross-section of one milk nipple of a claw, in the position that an operator will hold it while putting teat cups on a cow, and a portion of a tube hanging from it.

Fig. 4 is a side view of one side of a pail and cover having a hook, with a claw and cups hanging from the hookthe milk tubes and the lower end of one of the teat cups being shown in section.

The milk tube l may be at one end connected with the teat cup in any known manner. In Figs.`1 and 4 the milk tube is shown with an enlarged end 2 adapted to t tightly around a teat cup liner 3, which is pulled through and turned around a reduced diameter lower end of a teat cup shell i, as disclosed in the Scott Patent No. 2,219,945. As above stated, any other means may be provided for securing one end of the milk tube to the teat cu-p; or the milk tube may be formed integral with the liner.

The bore 5 in the body of the milk tube is about the same size as, or very slightly smaller than, the nipple 'i of the claw or cluster which the other end of the tube is adapted to engage. The inner wall of this end of the tube is tapered to a diameter substantially smaller than the outside diameter of the nipple; the reduction in bore size being effected by thickening the wall of the tube, as shown at 8. The combination of thickened wall and smaller bore causes the tube, when applied to the nipple, to grip it tightly and thus eliminate danger of leaks of air inward with resultant reduction of vacuum. rThe length oi this tapered portion must not exceed the length of the nipple.

Around the outside of the tube near but be- Cil tremity approximating the length of the nipple 1 (that is, at a location aligning with the end of :the nipple after the tube is forced upon it), is a bead 9 having a height preferably greater than its-radius (that is, a height greater than half its thickness at its base). 'I'he end of the nipple is cut at a customary angle, so that, when the teat cups are not in place on the teats of a cow and hang suspended from the nipples of the claw, as when the claw is in the position in which the operator holds it while applying the cups to the cows teats, the open end of the nipple will be closed by the fairly sharp bending of the tube at that locality. The ordinary milk tube is of uniform thickness and diameter, and necessarily of a diameter substantially less than that of the nipple, in order to enable the tube to so tightly grip the nipples as to eliminate danger of its beingnaccidently pulled ofi. When the milk tube assumes the position relative to the nipple shown in Fig. 8, there is some danger of a hole being punctured in the rubber at the point of contact between nipple and tube. The weakness of the tube at this point of contact is due not primarily to the bending of the tube but to the fact that the normal diameter of the tube at this point is so much smaller than the diameter of the outside of the tube that when the tube is forced on the nipple it is subject to considerable stretching. In my improvement the tube at this point is in unstretched or nearly unstretched condition, which, in connection with the localized thickening provided by the bead, eiectually prevents puncturing of the tube at this point.

'I'he most important function performed by the just described construction is to insure the tube against damage or puncture from light blows that occur when an operator places the eye7 on the lower side of the cluster, around the hook, on the pail top, and allows the cluster and teat cups vto fall from a nearly horizontal position to the nearly vertical position shown in Fig. 4. To such blows soft rubber, when stretched, is particularly susceptible. The bead 9, applied to a part of the tube which is not subjected to mate- .rial stretching, will cushion the blow without damage to the tube.

By providing a tube Whose inner diameter is not substantially less than the diameter of the nipple except adjacent its extremity for a distance not greater than the length of the nipple, so as to avoid substantie. stretching of the tube except at its thickened extremity, not only is its adapted to convey milk from a milking machine teat cup to a cluster having a nipple to which the lend of the milk tube is adapted to be applied, the'tube, for a part of its length not greater than that of the nipple to which it is adapted to be applied, having .a wall of increased thickness and 'reduced internal normal diameter adapted when applied to the nipple to be held thereon by its own tension and being provided with an external bead near but beyond said part of increased wall thickness and reduced internal diameter.

.2.. A milk tube of ilexible and elastic material adapted to convey milk from a milking machine teat cup to a cluster having a nipple to which the end of the milk tube is adapted to be applied, the tube, for a part of its length not greater than that of'the nipple to which it is adapted to be applied, having its wall tapered to an increased thickness and reduced in internal diameter toward itsv extremity, thereby enabling the tube to be so proportioned as to be readily forced upon thenipple and tightly grip it without substantial stretching of the tube in the neighborhood of the end of the nipple.

3. The combination with a milkv claw having a nipple, of a tube of iiexible and elastic material adaptedto convey milk from a milking machine teat cup and having an end adapted to be forced over said nipple, said tube having, in the locality at afdistance from .its extremity corresponding tothe length of the nipple, an inner diameter not materially less than'the outer diameter rvof the nipple, said tube having adjacent its-extremity and along a length thereof not exceeding the 'length of the nipple, a thickened wall anda reduced inner diameter, thereby when applied to. the nipple being held thereon by its own tension andmaking an airtight connection therewith and avoiding substantial stretchingin the neighborhood of the end of the nipple withl consequent reduced liability thereat to puncture of the tube.

4. The combination with a. milk claw having a nipple, of a tube of ilexible; and elastic material adapted to convey milk from a milking machine teat cup and havingan end adapted to be forced over said nipple, said tube having, in the locality at a distance from its extremity corresponding to the length of the nipple, an inner diameter not materiallyV less than the outer-diameter of the nipple, said tube having adjacent its extremity and along a length thereof'not exceeding the length of the nipple, a thickened wall and a reduced inner diameter, thereby, when applied to the nipple, being held thereon by its own tension, the wall of the tube being locally thickened at a distance from .its extremity approximating the length of the nipple, thereby,

when the tube is applied to the nipple, reinforcingthe tube while 'in substantially unstretched condition at a locality thereof most liable to damage.

5.` In a milking machine, the combination with a' teat cup, a claw nipple and a milk tube connectedat one end withthe teat cup and having, at its other end, a portion, not longer than the nipple. of a normal inner diameter substanameter approximating tially less than the outside diameter ot the nipple. thereby, when applied to the nipple, being held thereon by its own tension, the part ot the tube adjacent to said portion and extending opposite and beyond. the end or the nipple when the tube is applied thereto having an inner dithat of the nipple but not suiiiciently less than that of the nipple to be in materially stretched condition when the tube is applied thereto, and abead around the outside oi' the tube at 'a longitudinal location approximatingsthat 'ot the 'end of the nipple when thltube is applied thereto.

6. The combination with a milk claw having a nipple, of a tube of iiexible and elastic material the body of which has an inner diameter, except at its nipple-engaging end, not substantially less than the diameter of the nipple, the tube having adjacent its extremity and along a length thereof not exceeding the length of the nipple, a thickened wall and a reduced inner diameter, being thereby held on the nipple, when applied thereto, wall of the tube beyond at a locality thereof not said thickened wall, and subjected to substantial stretching whenthe tube is applied to the nipple,

being locally thickened.

7. The combination with a milk claw having a nipple, of a" tube of-exible and elastic material of an internal diameter beyond the nipple, when the tubeiis applied thereto, not substantially less than the diameter of the outside of the nipple, `the' nipple-engaging portion of the tube, along alength thereof not exceeding the length of the nipple, having its .wall tapered toward its extremity to an increased thickness and to a reducedjinner diameter substantially less than the outer diameter of the nipple, whereby, when the tube is appliedto the nipple, the part thereof adjacent to and beyond the end of the nipple is in substantially unstretched condition.

8. The combination with a milk claw having a nipple, of a tube of ilexible and elastic material of an internal diameter beyond the nipple,

' when the tube is applied thereto, not substantially less than the diameter of the outside of the nipple, the nipple-engaging portion of the tube, along a length thereof not exceeding the length of vthe nipple, having its wall tapered toward its extremity to an increased thickness and to a reduced inner diameter substantially less than the outer diameter of thei nipple, whereby, when the tube is applied to the nipple, the part thereof adiacent to and beyond the end of the nipple is in substantially unstretched condition, the wall of the tube being provided with an external beadnear but beyond said part of tapered wall thicknessand reduced internal diameter.

9. A milk tube of ilexible and elastic material adapted to convey milk from afmilking machine teat cup to a cluster having-a nipple to which the end of the milk tube is adapted to be applied, the tube, for apart of its length not greater than that of the nipple to which it is adapted to be applied, having its wall tapered to an increased thickness and reduced internal diameter toward its extremity and being provided with an external beadnear but beyond said part of tapered wall thickness and reduced internal diameter.

WALTER A. SCO'I'I'.

by its own tension, the 

